I am sure a lot of people here read SouthSideSox but today Jim sort of got at why the attendance may be so low, especially for "games that count." He used the interesting phrase of "fan murdering" and cited a bunch of recent numbers for the Sox and then asked why would anyone expect people to come to the park just "pay to cover their eyes."

A major reason for that, too, though is Wrigley's status as a tourist destination. I would estimate that roughly 95% of the people that come to Chicago from out of town and catch a baseball game go to Wrigley. It just is what it is. You can see the crowds at Wrigley are dwindling now that the tourist season is winding down and all that's left to fill the seats are Cub fans... Not too many are bothering.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lip Man 1

1. In a story done by reporter Ted Gregory on this subject for the Tribune on September 1st, he quoted a Cub official directly as saying that 40% of overall Cub attendance comes from tourists. That's a sizable amount to pad attendance.

The tourist-attraction quality of that ballpark is what draws the crowds. Does that make them fans? I suppose it depends on how "fan" is defined. There are fans of architecture and pop culture too, and maybe that's what the other 40% are fans of, rather than baseball.

You'd think that more people showing up and the extra revenue they generate would lead toward a better baseball organization. Somehow that hasn't worked for the Cubs, and maybe they simply don't care since they're making money. We've speculated about that for a long time.

One thing I do know is that the Cubs are living on borrowed time with that ballpark. The main grandstand is just under 100 years old and the upper deck concrete is still flaking off. The ballpark is their golden goose and they can't postpone dealing with its poor health forever.

Just called the radio station and was told the piece will run between 4:50 and 5PM Chicago time and then again between 5:20 and 5:30 Chicago time if you want to listen live or streaming.

Hopefully I'll also have a link available later.

Lip

It's on now and I am listening to it, Michael Puente mentioned how on a "sun kissed Tuesday afternoon while fighting for first place the Sox barely drew 13,000 in a stadium that holds 40,000" was that the game was played on a Tuesday afternoon and originally scheduled for Tuesday night.

The story ran a total of 4:43 which is long by today's standards but for an issue this complicated it's hard to give a complete picture...overall I thought it wasn't bad.

The first fan comment was right on where he said he could talk about this issue for an hour giving his opinions. And the women who talked about the high ticket prices somewhat defeated Brooks comment about ticket prices being lower. They are somewhat for the last couple of homestands but obviously the word isn't getting out to the fans is it? And lower prices for a few games doesn't hurt, but Sox ticket prices normally are still among the highest in baseball for a team that hasn't done that well on the field since 2006 overall.

The comments in the story were from three fans who attended the Thursday night game with Tampa...myself and Brooks.

I taped the story through Audacity and listened to it again and I realize I said something that was not what I meant to say. I didn't even realize that it came out that way.

I was talking about the dynamic pricing system and how it was confusing fans and some fans felt they were getting ripped off. I used as an example (and this was used in the story) that "a fan goes to a Monday game with the Royals gets a ticket in a particular location for a certain price... they go back on Friday for the Yankees and gets a ticket in another location and they pay a different price.

What I thought I said was "a fan goes to a Monday game with the Royals gets a ticket in a particular location for a certain price... they go back on Friday for the Yankees and gets a ticket in the same location and they have to pay a different price and it gets confusing."

Just cranial rectal inversion on my part and there's no excuse for it.

I was interviewed outside of Grandstand last night on my way to the game. I was mostly asked about attendance 'issues' for the Sox vs the Cubs. They aired a snippet (according to a friend) but it seems they really weren't interested in my 'complicated issue' answer. I'd love a link to your interview Lip and anything else they used in the broadcast!

You must be the guy who said he could go on for hours giving his opinion on it. See my post a few above this one. I get what your saying and it's true, the story went almost five minutes but this is so complicated you could do an hour show.

By the way what was your explanation that they didn't use. Just summarize.

You must be the guy who said he could go on for hours giving his opinion on it. See my post a few above this one. I get what your saying and it's true, the story went almost five minutes but this is so complicated you could do an hour show.

By the way what was your explination that they didn't use. Just summerize.

Lip

That was me!!!

I basically said that Sox fans support a winner regardless, but we don't automatically show up in droves for bad baseball (IE the Cubs), especially with the economy, current pricing, and preseason expectations. We talked about the good year the Sox have had (despite the past few weeks) and a few other things. I think he was looking for simplified answers/soundbites, I'm really surprised they used me at all

I am sending the link to this thread to Michael and the station he works for so if you have comments on his story or on the Sox attendence situation please post them as I'm sure he and his people will be reading them!

I am sending the link to this thread to Michael and the station he works for so if you have comments on his story or on the Sox attendence situation please post them as I'm sure he and his people will be reading them!

Lip

Quote:

Originally Posted by 16th&State

I was interviewed outside of Grandstand last night on my way to the game. I was mostly asked about attendance 'issues' for the Sox vs the Cubs. They aired a snippet (according to a friend) but it seems they really weren't interested in my 'complicated issue' answer. I'd love a link to your interview Lip and anything else they used in the broadcast!

Thanks for your thoughts. As we WSIers know and has been discussed time and time again, this is a very complicated issue that can't really be fully covered in a 5-minute long news story (though as Lip said, I was surprised how long it was). It seemed fair enough and about as much as you can do in that period of time.